Create your site’s “preferred source” link

How to use the tool

Enter your site’s domain name, with or without the protocol, then click “Generate the link”. The tool shows the link address, a text link and a button, each with its own Copy button. You can replace the default text with your own.

Then paste the code where your readers can act: a page of your site, an article, a newsletter, a social media post. The click opens Google’s source preferences tool with your site offered, and the reader confirms the choice.¹

What the tool writes

Google documents a single link format: the address https://www.google.com/preferences/source?q= followed by your domain name. It presents it as a solution for sites that cannot use its JavaScript button, as a text link or a clickable image.¹ The tool applies that format and adds nothing to it.

Google first recommends a JavaScript button, supplied by a Google script loaded in the page, with a div element where you want it. The button written here is a plain HTML link with some styling: it calls no script and works in a newsletter or a signature. If your site accepts the script, Google’s method is the most complete.¹

What the tool checks

Google states that only domain-level and subdomain-level sites appear in the source preferences tool: https://www.example.com/ and https://code.example.com/ qualify, a subdirectory such as /blog does not.¹ If you enter an address with a path, the tool removes the path, tells you so and builds the link for the whole domain.

It also rejects what is not a domain name: an IP address, a name without an extension, text with spaces. It does not check that the site exists or that it appears in Google’s tool: to find out, Google advises searching for your site directly in the source preferences tool.¹

Limits

The link only offers your site to the reader. Google says that selecting a source makes its content more likely to appear in Top Stories, with a “preferred” badge, and that no promotion method is required to appear as a preferred source.¹ There is therefore no guaranteed placement.

Google’s page says nothing about quality criteria or ranking, and a reader’s preference does not replace the site’s editorial and technical work. In AI Mode and AI Overviews, the badge only shows for readers who selected your site, and the site must be included in the generative AI features in Search Console.¹

After generating the link

To understand how links appear in generated answers, read the article on links in AI Mode and AI Overviews. On the technical side, the AI crawler access checker verifies what your rules let through, and the structured data generator prepares your pages’ markup. For a complete visibility strategy, an SEO consultant can support you.

Frequently asked questions